In Pictures: Armistace 2005

[Anth]

Armistace Day 2005

Millions of people across the UK have paid their respects to those who have died in war, with a two-minute silence.


From places of worship to shopping centres, the silence at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month was widely observed.


The silence represents the moment when all guns stopped at the end of World War I


Service personnel in Baghdad took time out from their duties to honour their fallen comrades


In Ipswich's Field of Honour, both young and old took time to honour the war dead


Britain's oldest man and World War 1 veteran Henry Allingham, 109, laid a wreath at the Air Services Memorial, in St Omer, France, during an Armistice Day service


Major Joginder Brar joined the ceremony at the Memorial Gates in London - which also remembered war dead from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Africa


In Bedworth, Warwickshire, the end of the two-minute silence was marked with the release of white doves

Festival of Remembrance


Armed forces personnel paid their respects at this year's Festival of Remembrance at London's Royal Albert Hall on Saturday.


The Central Band of the Royal Forces performed during the annual event, which honours those who have lost their lives serving their country.


Chelsea Pensioners were among hundreds of ex-servicemen and women who packed into the Royal Albert Hall for the service to pay their respects.


Tony Blair and his wife Cherie were the first dignitaries to arrive for the event, which comprised a service of remembrance and a two-minute silence.


The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were the last dignitaries to arrive at the annual event.


Poppies fell from the roof of the hall at the end of the evening, during the two-minute silence, to represent those who have died in combat over the years.

BBC Link

[Anth]

Remembrance Sunday


Veterans used semaphore to send a silent message along the Thames to be decrypted at Whitehall - it read: "War turns us to stone. In remembrance we shine and rise to new days."


Following a two-minute silence at 1100 GMT the Queen led the tributes to those soldiers who have died serving their country, by laying a wreath the Cenotaph in London.


In Edinburgh, veterans were joined by dignitaries, serving military personnel and members of the public at a service at the Stone of Remembrance outside the City Chambers.


The fallen were also remembered in Liverpool, where young and old came together at a service at St George's Hall.


Prime Minister Tony Blair was joined by the other main political party leaders at the Cenotaph in London. The service honours all those killed in conflicts since World War I.


More than 8,000 veterans made the annual pilgrimage, including those from the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, queuing to leave their wreaths at the Cenotaph.


Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup said: "The thing that always strikes me when this day comes round every year, is the way the whole nation rises to it."


First Minister Jack McConnell remembered the "fathers, sons, aunties, uncles, friends and comrades who were lost" at Scotland's national ceremony in Edinburgh.


One young boy watched on as a World War II Dakota aircraft dropped 100,000 poppy petals over the Remembrance Day service in Liverpool.


God Save the Queen was sung at the Cenotaph, while a service in Braehead, near Glasgow, opted for the less conventional Give Peace a Chance, by John Lennon.


World War I - 'the war to end all wars' - killed around 10 million people, with nearly one million British soldiers losing their lives. Only a handful of veterans remain to tell the tale.

[Snowden]

Thanks, Anth. Wonderful.

[Woodmonkey]

These are wonderful pics, Anth. Thank you.

[UP On the way]

WW I, the war to end all wars. How ironic, it was the war that began modern warfare on its path to what we see today...Chemicals, tanks, MG, and air to air combat.
To those who served in the great war and all wars since, who lost their lives in the trenches, on the beaches, at sea and in the air I salute you.
To the soldiers who fight today, I wish I was there to fight by your side, comrades always...

[SherryGrace]

Thank you so much for sharing those pictures. What an awesome thread.